Edu Moix

Recovery Drink

admin — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 11:16:00 +0000

Recently, I am getting pretty excited about my recovery drinks after my workouts. After reading some articles and after being inspired by coach Brett (from ZenTriathlon podcast) and a discussion on the Triathlete group on LinkedIn, I am really pushing boundaries! :)

It is totally proven that within 30min after your workout, it is the best time to help your body and muscles to recover, refuel and rebuild …..Protein, carbohydrates, salts, bananas and others elements seem to be on the top of the list of some amateurs triathletes.

Here a bit of my experiments.

Today’s shake:

- 2 Carrots

- 1 Tomato

- 1 can of Coconut Juice

- Frozen Berries

-1 Apple

- 1 Honey Stinger Energy gel (Banana flavor)

- 7/8 peanuts- Grapes

(Today I ran out of Protein Whey)

Step 1

Step 2 and done!

Other tries:

- 2 Carrots

- 1 Banana

- 1 Apple

- Protein Whey

- 1 can of Coconut Juice

- 1 Pear

- etc

The main idea is to have a healthy smoothie immediately after workout (or at least within 30 mins) in order to recover well and have a good meal within an hour after your workout. This will have a big impact on your recovery. I also try to stay some minutes with my back flat on the floor or on the bed and have my legs up while wearing my compression socks. Lots of people recommend chocolate milk, but milk has been found to be pro-inflammatory which simply contradicts your main goal… So no milk during this time!

Other than that, there are no rules for what to put inside your recovery shake, so enjoy whatever you like and keep it healthy. Fruits, nuts, protein, veggies, cookies, gels, powerbars… open your mind and don’t be shy!

Oh.. And share your recipes! :)

Tales from Sri Lanka (II): Race Report

admin — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 10:53:47 +0000

Last year I targeted Sri Lanka as a race with a goal: Vegas.

After Philippines and Powerman, that was the next race to do my best.

My training for Sri Lanka had two parts. The one coming from the preparation for Powerman and the one after Christmas. During the Christmas holidays, I had a biiiggg break of 3 weeks in Europe where I just ate (too much) and rested. Then after that, it was about 2 months of training ahead of me before the race.

Throughout these months, I have been lucky enough to have Ziggy as a training partner to push me week after week. During this time I felt a big improvement on my bike, slightly better on my swim but had left my run a bit forgotten which I focused on later in the last 3 weeks before the race.

With this scenario I was going to Sri Lanka confidently. It has been only two months of training but a hard one. Strong on the bike, much more confident on the swim and ready to push mentally on my run.

We are in Sri Lanka!

View of the Indian Ocean from our room

At the race briefing with Jehanna

The race was starting at 6 am! Super early. That means go to bed at 7-8 and wake up at 3. Zzzzzzzz

This time I was the spoiled kid of the transition area. Thanks to my friends I was riding aero wheels (from Quini) (zipp 808 firecrest at the front and rear), aero helmet (Bastian), new K-swiss appareal (Ferran), aerobottle (Tono) and a small bottle to put my gels on the run (Ziggy). Plus I was swimming with a swimskin (Christmas present from my aunts :P ).

All was set up for a great day…. And so it was!!!

Breakfast brought from Singapore

Transition Area Race Day Morning

Here we go!

6.35am after some delay, banggggg showtime! And all participants to the water.

Frenetic first 200m where I just pushed…. but soon I realized that I wasn’t really sure of where I was heading off :( Not great news, but still on time to rectify. Even if it was an easy U-turn course with no sharp corners I was having serious problems on my navigation. I tried to draft from people, but they seem to be lost also, so I decided to do my own thing. I was mentally stressed but physically relaxed. I had been stopping to look around and my pace wasn’t too fast. Obviously, my time on the swim would reflect that! :( out of the water in almost 37. Disaaaassssterrrrrrr. Where are my desired time was between 31-32? Oh well, will have to wait for another race. Time to look forward and hope for a good bike and run.

Definitely I need more hours in the pool… :(

Super pro transition including my race belt under my swimskin and time to ride my new setup in the roads of Colombo. 3 laps of 30km. (Faster transition than Faris Al-Sultan! yes, I am proud of it, hahaha)

I started riding strong. Definitely the sessions with Ziggy paid off! Then Kona James (from Joyriders) overtook me and it was time to keep his pace and try to work legally on a pacing line. Most of the 90km were with marshals on motorbikes beside us not only confirming the distance from each other was legal, but also tried to help us avoid the tuk tuks and other vehicles aggressively conquering the roadways.

The course had three bike laps of mainly flat roads with long stretches to be on the aerobars. Part of the course was on the coast line and the other half going into the city. The second part had a couple of sharp corners and the surface wasn’t that good.

Lovely Zipp Wheels and Aerohelmet :)

Jehanna, Angel and Angel were cheering and shouting splits. All was looking good again, even if the swim was weak. No wind, and not super hot compared to Singapore. But still hooooot.

At the last lap, the traffic was getting really scary and the sun and wind all started to make their presence known. In the last 4 to 5km I felt pretty exhausted on my legs and I had to relax a bit to have some energy for the T2+run.

The big news of the day is that I rode in 2.17!!! That is seriously fast. This means that I’m off of T2 in 2.55! If I manage to run in 1.35h the half marathon I can go below 4.30!!!

Vamosssss!!!

Arriving to T2

After such effort on the bike is now when the race starts. I can break down or I can hang on to it.

In my previous Ironman 70.3, I ran in 1h50min and 1h38min. My hope was to improve that, but this time it wouldn’t be easy. No shade at all, no sponges, little ice (if you could get it), big effort on the bike and not much training on the run. What a combo!

The run course will consist of 4 laps where both lines were beside each other, so you can really keep an eye on your competitors. On the other hand it can get too repetitive, though it is spectator friendly.

On the first lap, Jehanna, who was on the phone with Juan-Carles-Ziggy constantly, shouted out that I was first of my category. Holy cow!!! This means that right now I am a Vegas qualifier!!! I have to secure this place!!!!

Yes, later I had a tan line on my bold head! :P

Bringing a bottle with gels (left hand) was a great idea! Thanks Ziggy!

On the U-turn I could see a guy that is probably my age looking strong out on the run… Uh oh! That rang the first alarm! When I saw Jehanna, I asked her for the runner 211. She shouts at me that is my persecutor, 4min down. Sh#t!?! But I think, 4min is about 1km. Should be that close?? Happily this gap went down to increase from 4 mins to almost 10 in total! Since it was a small course, Jehanna could give me splits twice per lap. Also I could have lots of visual references to the other guys. Since the gap was getting bigger, I knew someone could have been already jumped up to the second place. I tried to increase the pace a bit even if it meant drafting on the run behind a pro who later I just ended up overtaking. (Well..that felt good!) I knew my run wasn’t fast at all, but during the 21km I would just be overtaking people and I wouldn’t be overtaken. That was a good reference.

I made it through a decent 1h40mins on the 21km run and happily crossed the finish line knowing I made it to Vegas!!!

Last 100 m… :)

Excited for the winning and the Vegas slot

IujUuuuuu!!! Vegas…. here we comeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Awesome day in Colombo! Small field but strong field. After the race I was totally trashed… now was time to go for the lovely local food I have been avoiding since I arrived in the city for some pre-cautionary measures.

Later slot confirmation and awards dinner.

Vegas Qualifiers :) (Tomoya and Teo)

Happy to show my sponsors on the top of the podium! :)

With Faris Al-Sultan (Professional Triathlete)

Now, already back in Singapore. For the weeks that followed the race, training has been easy and now starting to increase the intensity a bit.

My next race will be the Duathlon Sprint from MetaSeries in Singapore. And yep, my Cinderella bike returned to its normal status :/

This morning was Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore. Great time supporting my friends and great motivational boost to start to train more consistently.

Thanks for reading! And thanks for all the support and cheering!

With Jehanna, David and Cara

Also, the last but not the least, here a picture with Cara and David (Winner of his age group at the 5150 race. David is also a training colleague of mine in MetaSport). They are doing a great charity job in Sri Lanka and Nepal. Please see their websites below and do not hesitate to contact to them for more info or for donations.

Shiva Charity Main Website

Shiva Charity (Sri Lanka Preschool)

Extract from their website:

“SHIVA Charity promotes education in Nepal and Sri Lanka. This involves improvement to buildings, equipment, the quality of teaching, and subsidising teachers’ pay. It has built 28 nursery schools in Sri Lanka to replace those destroyed by the tsunami.”

And to finish the post, here a video of the race (in which I do not appear, but at least you can have a taste of the race day).

Note (II) from Jayantha Jayewardene, BECT Managing Trustee

admin — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:57:47 +0000

Dear all,

The charity project reaches its end and it is time to thank all of you for your support.

Please find below a note from Jayantha Jayewardene, Managing Trustee of the BECT.

Tales from Sri Lanka (I): Charity Project

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:59:59 +0000

As most of you know, I have been putting together for the past few months a fund-raising drive to support the projects of the non-profit organization called The Biodiversity Elephant Conservation Trust (BECT). I have to say a huge THANK YOU for the generosity of those who participated. (See the list of donators at the bottom of the post).

PROUDLY WE REACHED 3320.15 USD

Briefly, the BECT is a Colombo, Sri Lanka-based non-profit organization founded by Jayantha Jayewardene. BECT currently is undertaking 3 main projetcs:

1. Biodiversity Awareness Programs to 150 schools per year. (within the Sri Lankan territory)

2. Providing full set of school material to those kids who has suffered a lost of father/mother or

both due the human-elephant conflict.

3. Building Houses for those families who has lost their home because the attack of wild elephants.

During my trip in Colombo I had the opportunity to join Jayantha for one session on the Biodiversity Awareness Program. We drove about an hour plus out of the city. The school invited two classes from two neighboring schools. There were about 150 students for present that morning.

Jayantha showed me the skilled driver he is

With the kids who took part in the program

The BECT conducted two sessions which lasted about an hour each. It was headed by two different speakers. Though the lectures were in the local language, I was amazed at the quality of the presentation. The had super good presentation done in Flash (better and more complicated software than ppt), lots of interesting information, very easy to understand and the speakers really engaged the students— a truly inspirational job these guys are doing.

Here with Sudath Abeysinghe, Ravi Kariyawasam & Jayantha Jayewardene

Kids having some snacks during the session

After the session, we had time to invite the kids for breakfast and we gave away some packages of books for each school to keep in the library. (These school materials are separate from what the orphaned kids will receive.)

Posing for a photo with one of the teachers

On the side, I was able to do a few other activities related to the BECT. I had the opportunity to visit the Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawala – a few hours North East from Colombo City centre. In this occasion, we had the privilege of an exclusive tour around the facility with the chief mahout, Sumedha. He brought us around and gave a good overview of what goes on around the facility and he explained to us the condition, daily needs, training and welfare of the elephants.

First established in 1975 by the Department of Wildlife Conservation of Sri Lanka, the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage provide shelter and care to orphaned baby elephants that were found in the wild and those saved from violent attacks and unfortunate encounters both man-made and natural causes.

Highly recommended and definitely worth a visit!

With Jehanna and a baby elephant

Me alongside the chief mahout, Sumedha (internationally known for his elephant training skills)

I feel totally convinced to be supporting the BECT. I saw first hand the hard labour put into the schools’ awareness programme, and on top of that, the members and staff of the BECT put themselves through an even more economically and physically challenging circumstance to reach out to the orphaned kids around the island affected by human-elephant conflict. For about four years now, BECT takes on a few hundreds of kilometers every December to give away school materials to these children. They believe in the value education as key to a brighter future for the affected families.

From here, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Jayantha for all the kindness and assistance he extended to us during our trip in Sri Lanka. It was definitely a trip to remember and to repeat! Thank you Jayantha, and we hope that you continue to inspire other individuals to support your effort for the local community.

With Angel & Jayantha at the Awards Dinner

For those who would like to donate on a separate occassion to the BECT, feel free to place your donations directly through their website.

To all my kind friends who participated in this fund-raising activity, I will keep you in the loop on the latest development from the BECT to give you a clear picture of how far your help has reached. Please drop me an email if you wish to be added to or deleted from the list.

Again, big thanks to all of you who supported this cause! Thank you very much!

(Batch 1)

Juan Huerta, Juan Ramon Oliva, Sergi Enriquez, Bastian Dohling, Quini Gonzalez, Jehanna Rosell, Josep Casal, Albert Buixade, Dina Tanubrata, Borja Perera, Cheng Hong Lim, David Crebassa, Filip Ruszkowski, Laia Moix and Daniel Ong.

(Batch 2)

Alex Bosch, Kakarala Ramakrishna, Quini González, Miquel Pallares, Israel Galan, Carlos Monterde, Oscar Fernandez, Patricia Madrigal, Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz, Diego Parra, Ferran Ribalta, Victoria Gomez, Paulinna Ow, Ted and Rachel Webb, Monique Suksmaningsih and Miguel Sousa.

(Batch 3)

Silvia Sola, Oscar Feliu Ladet, Tashia Dixon, Sagita Indhira, Timothy Cosulich, Beatrix Schmidt, Rodolphe de Mol, Aaron Panggabean, Angel Perez Sainz, Christine Matulac, Fabrizio Pugliese, Romeo Fabricio Cafaro, Lourdes Rosell, Jehanna Rosell, Fernando Gondolo, Sergi Salvia i Farré, Winston Liam, Saurabh Gaidhani, Ankit Kamboj, Ed Baker, Hannah Williams, Chloe Li, Jason Pomeroy, Tanu Saha, Ronald Molit, Luis Barahona and Edu Moix.

Final push for the Charity Project

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:27:54 +0000

Dear all,

Thanks for your support in the last months! This is the last shout for the fund raise. My trip to Sri Lanka is in 4 weeks and that’s the deadline we have to push our donations to the highest as possible.

We already reached more than 2300 USD ! and hopefully we will be able to achieve a realistic goal of 3080 USD by mid February 2012.

BECT is a non-profit organization with an active initiative in the conservation and biodiversity of elephants in Sri Lanka.

MAIN GOAL: Fund the purchase of school materials for children left orphaned due to human-elephant conflict

SCENARIO: (As reported by Jayantha Jayewardene, Trustee Manager of BECT)
There were 94 families and 72 children reported in the initial list compiled by BECT whose mother or father have been killed by wild elephants.
Presently, the list has now increased to 154 children.

                 Cost of one set of school material per child: 20 USD
                   Total No. of Children up-to-date: 154 children
               Total Cost of School Materials: 154 children x 20 USD = 3,080 USD

Right now we are at:

2333.15 USD / 20 USD = 116 sets of school materials

Those funds collected after reaching the 3,080 USD will be designated to another projects and needs from the BECT. Apart from the many needs of the people in this community, it is proper housing and education that we can help support.

These 116 kids couldn’t be sponsored without the following donators:

(Batch 1)

(Batch 2)

Thank you very much for your support!

Edu

*In the cover of the post, children under the BECT program

Looking back at 2011 and Looking forward for 2012

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:17 +0000

Last year was definitely a great year in many ways and a busy one at that for my triathlon activities! It started with a great purchase and a good investment back in January when I got my first triathlon bike, Scott Plasma 2, 2011 Model.

Throughout 2011, I participated in races that I am truly proud of (Sundown Half Marathon, Ironman 70.3 Philippines, Megatri Long Course Triathlon and Powerman. Also participated in other small local races).

With Isra and Tono after the race

It was also last year when I announced and kicked off my on-going charity project for Sri Lanka. So far, I have collected contributions and donations from friends and families amounting to USD 2,300 for my beneficiary, Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust (BECT) a non-profit organization in Sri Lanka who focuses on educating young children & their community affected by human-elephant conflict. The money collected will be given to this organization who will then use the funds to purchase some school materials and aid in the effort for the community.

Thinking of donating? Click here to learn more, and know how and why your donation will make a difference.

Another fantastic thing that happened for me in 2011 is the support of two Spanish brands who have kindly shown their encouragement for my young triathlon journey. DAS Audio and Medilast-Sport have opened their doors to me, and for the coming races, I will be seen sporting their brands!

Medilast Sport Sponsorship

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:10:02 +0000

Second sponsor is on board!

I am happy to let you know that Medilast Sport has sponsored me.

Medilast, found in 1970 in the city of Lleida, is a manufacturer of orthopedic elastic products. As a result of growing needs in the competitive world of sports, Medilast opened a range of products under the compression apparel to offer high performance products suitable for athletic needs.

The factory and headquarters is located a few kilometres away from my parents home in Alpicat and from Terraferma School, where I studied from primary until the end of high-school. The factory always has been a landmark for our bike rides and runs around the fields.

Location Map

I am so thankful because since the first moment I approached their team, they have been more than happy to support me with their sports materials. Right before the company went on its Christmas break, I had the opportunity to visit their factory and see first-hand and up-close the facilities and witness the manufacturing process.

Meeting with Gemma Garcia from Medilast Sport

Visiting the facilities

Medilast is already present in some countries in Asia and you can also purchase their products online.

From now onwards, you will see me training, recovering and relaxing with the Medilast compression socks and other apparel. :)

First ever Medilast machine which was hand made by the owners of the company back in 1970

Powerman 2011 Race Report

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 06:20:50 +0000

First time doing Powerman, first time doing a long distance duathlon and the first time going to a race with a organized group.

Powerman Malaysia 2011, an event of a few firsts; participiating in a long distance duathlon, the first time joining a race with a very well-organized group and first race under sponsorship.

For this race, the cycling group Joyriders (www.joyriders.sg) of which I am a part of, organised a group of buses to travel from Singapore to Perak, Malaysia (long journey! 10h+). This has been a new experience for us. We enjoyed meeting new people and be surrounded by sports-lovers during our short weekend trip to Lumut, State of Perak, Malaysia.

Bikes out of the bus at hotel

Scottie with my new DAS equipment :)

Saturday passed by really fast with the race briefing in the hotel, race expo, local seafood lunch and preparing the stuff for the following day.

Sunday morning at 6 a.m. check out from the hotel and at 7:30 a.m. showtime.

Race:

Run – 11km (2 laps of 5.5km)
Bike – 64km (2 laps of 32km)
Run – 10 km (2 laps of 5 km)

I started slightly faster than I should but I wasn’t feeling bad until I got some stomach cramps. I’ve never experienced this before. 3k on the run and there goes the stomach cramps… The day wasn’t looking good. Then I realized, salt tablets! It was the first time I have forgotten that must-have in a race! (I usually take one before the start, and some on the bike + half on the run)

Salt tablets are definitely not psychological. They really work! (At least in hot and humid climate)

I focused on following a couple of guys that were running on a smooth pace and I managed a good split for the first run.

These guys saved my first run

Scottie always waiting for me :)

On the bike, I felt pretty good. (I still feel that I need more work on it though).

As always, it’s a non-drafting race for some of the participants, but there are some (or too many) of them who really didn’t mind. I was absorbed by some pelotons and did my best to pull out. I tried to be out of trouble as much as possible and do my own race.

Again, a race of a few firsts: open traffic.

I have to confess that that was a scary thought at the beginning. But once on the road, I haven’t felt any security issues or concerns. The main intersections were controlled by the local police and it worked really well. At the beginning of the second lap of the bike, I felt a bit of cramping on my left calf.

The course was really spectator-friendly and on every lap Jehanna was giving me splits, cheers and some feedback about the race. :)

Busy arrival to T2 between two Pro women

When I started the second leg of the run, both calves were struggling with cramps. An unknown situation for me and a high price for not bringing along my salt tablets! (If that was ever the reason)

Calves on fire while getting out to the second leg of the run

Bit by bit, I managed to get into a gradually increasing pace and finished the race below my personal target time for the day which was 3hrs. 30mins.

It was a happy race experience, and I recommend Powerman as a good event to sign up for.

Crossing the finish line
Some numbers:

Total Time: 3hrs. 24mins.

7th of 98 in my age group (Male 20-29)

Prize money: MYR100 (Official results here)

Run split 1: (11km) 44mins.
T1: 00.58 secs.
Bike split: (64km) 1hrs. 46mins.
T2: 00.58 secs.
Run split 2: (10km) 51mins.

Congratulations to all the Joyriders who completed the race and also to those ones who placed in the podium!
I would also like to thank Kelvin Tham and Ewin Teo for their help and guidance during the weekend.

D.A.S. Audio Sponsorship

admin — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:46:30 +0000

I’m so glad to announce my first sponsor, D.A.S. Audio! This is great news and a motivational injection for my upcoming events where I will be competing in races carrying D.A.S. Audio’s brand.

I approached Juan Luis, D.A.S. Audio’s Managing Director for Asia, and Eduardo Lopez, the Business Operations Manager for Asia who encouragingly accommodated me with their support by entrusting their company and brand through me as an age grouper triathlete and a friend.

From now onwards, you will see me carrying sponsored clothing, equipment, and/or items from D.A.S. Audio on my pre and post events. As my proud sponsor, their logo will be also visibly marked on my race equipment and even tattooed over me during competitions. :)

I’m sure it’s gonna be exciting racing with them!

Visit to D.A.S. Audio Offices (Singapore)

Early Christmas in November! :)

I would like to throw a big shout out to D.A.S. Audio saying thanks for their support.

Why donate?

admin — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 08:20:45 +0000

We already reached more than 700 USD and hopefully we will be able to achieve a realistic goal of 2500 USD by mid February 2012.

BECT is a non-profit organization with an active initiative in the conservation and biodiversity of elephants in Sri Lanka.

MAIN GOAL: Fund the purchase of school materials for children left orphaned due to human-elephant conflict

SCENARIO: (As reported by Jayantha Jayewardene, Trustee Manager of BECT)
There were 94 families and 72 children reported in the initial list compiled by BECT whose mother or father have been killed by wild elephants.
Presently, the list has now increased to 154 children.

                                                       Cost of one set of school material per child: 20 USD
                     Total No. of Children up-to-date: 154 children
                      Total Cost of School Materials: 154 children x 20 USD = 3,080 USD

Right now we are at:

714 USD / 20 USD = 35 sets of school materials

As a child, most of us didn’t have much of a choice but to get out of bed and go to school on a daily basis. This seemed more like a routine, an expected event, and anticipated experience. Education always has been a given, or at least that’s how it is for most of us.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for the 154 children in the rural areas of Sri Lanka.

The truth is that going to school for these kids can be a life-changing path for themselves and their families. This is why our little help can really touch many families’ lives and make an impact for their future.

See how some insignificant costs in our lives can change those of others’….

These first 35 kids couldn’t be sponsored without the following donators:

Thank you very much for your support!

Edu